Many goods and materials are shipped worldwide. Such shipping may typically entail utilizing shipping containers to store and transport the goods and materials. These shipping containers are usually stacked, hoisted, and/or locked using twist lock connectors or “cones” that may be attached (or “installed”) to a first container and then used to couple the first container to a second container. Additional containers may be similarly placed in a vertical stack. The cones may be associated with a shipping vessel, and as such, must be attached to containers as they are loaded onto the vessel and removed from containers as they are unloaded.
Current solutions require human intervention to place or remove the connectors, requiring workers to perform tasks that can be dangerous and time consuming. In addition, human intervention is needed to transfer cones back to an associated vessel. In addition, existing solutions may only be able to handle a limited quantity of cones. Furthermore, existing solutions may not allow cones to be automatically removed and attached or allow for convenient storage and/or monitoring of equipment such as container connectors. Existing solutions may also be limited to use with containers of particular size.
Thus there is a need for a fully automated solution that is able to remove and attach cones, deal with an unlimited quantity of connectors, and be able to handle multiple container sizes.